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p1t1o

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    Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical questions

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    6 minutes ago, Fraston said:

    I once read an article about that alternate universes are created when you make a decision. I wonder if this applies to thoughts, one universe where I never thought about making this question? RRRRRRGGHHHHHHNNNNGGGGGGGG.... IT GIVES ME A STINKIN HEADACHE.

    Not only that, but if you follow that interpretation of the many-worlds theorem, then there must be a new one created any time there is a chance-event with more than one outcome, down to the quantum level...

    ...the antidote is the purely deterministic universe in which the entire lifetime of the universe is decided by the initial starting conditions and every event is therefore pre-determined, like snooker balls on a table, with only one possible outcome (thus no alternate universes). Just dont let the fact that would also mean your own thoughts (including this conversation) and every "decision" you ever make are also predetermined, keep you up at night ;)

    Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical questions

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

    You can buy much better looking and functional gold plated guns. And you would obviously use plating and not make the gun of gold, both the trigger and grip looks horrible. 
    Remember you have to hold it for an long time aiming at your enemy delivering you monologue so an good grip is important. 
     

    You dont recognise the particular one? Its a particular one ;)

    OMG am I OLD?

     

    Spoiler

    Its Scaramangas "golden gun" from "The Man With The Golden Gun" James Bond movie. It is a sort of stealth gun which is assembled from a golden fountain pen and a golden lighter.

    In the N64 game "Goldeneye", it was an available firearm in multiplayer and could one-shot anybody. (thus the joke about armour piercing)

    This, along with playing as "Oddjob" (a character [from a whole other james bond title] who was shorter than all the others, meaning that most shots went over his head) were often considered "cheating" by everyone who didnt own an N64 and "totally fair" by your one friend who did.

     

    Thread to complain bout stuff

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Mark Kerbin said:

    In any event I have recently come to the conclusion that I have been a bit of a right twit on forums recently. As such I would like to apologize to anyone I have intentionally or unintentionally, offended, insulted, angered or just generally annoyed.

    Happens to literally everyone sometimes ;) definitely myself included.

    Dont worry, you'll snap wide awake in the middle of the night in ten or so years and remember with perfect clarity.

    Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical questions

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    49 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

    Penetrator itself afaik, weights much less: ~5..6 kg.

    Alas, you are right, I looked at the wrong figure :(

    Well that drops the price to only ~75k and now it will only take a single years worth of global production to arm one tank!

    1 hour ago, DAL59 said:

    Relatively cheap though.  

    Even at $75k it would be significantly more expensive than current rounds ($5k - $10k mark)

     

    49 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

    A boomerang-looking penetrator will return to the tank after hit.

    A fantastic idea.

    What if make the penetrator rod 2km long, so you drive your tank until the tip is a few inches from enemy armour, on firing, the charge drives the rod a few feet forwards with great force. Reverse, reposition and repeat.

     

    ***

     

    4 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

    Even if you include the online gaming world, that will at best, raise the number of shuffles by only a couple factors of ten. 

    I encountered some large numbers over at XKCD (alot of crossover today), and its worth noting that casinos mostly use several decks combined.

    With 4 or 5 decks the number of permutations reaches truly staggering numbers on the order of 1e300.

    Im not sure if its relevant to your discussion but holy jeebus those numbers get large fast.

     

    Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical questions

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    Regarding Osmium again, after a discussion on mining at XKCD I have found another reason why Osmium would not be used in Kinetic projectiles...global production is less than 100kg per year.

    And at $13,000 per kg, and with the average main battle tank kinetic rod massing ~20kg, each projectile would cost more than $250k. And you'd only be able to make 5 a year if you sequestered the total global production. Enough to arm about 2-3 tanks per decade.

    For reference, a Tomahawk cruise missile costs about $1M.

    Shower thoughts

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    On 5/29/2018 at 11:47 PM, SiriusRocketry said:

    What if the Earth is continually being destroyed, and time is overlapping again and again for alien reality TV.

    Better hope you dont get voted off.

    Thread to complain bout stuff

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Ho Lam Kerman said:

    I mean, why would anyone want to sit there for hours and hours trying in vain to stuff knowledge in your brain when you could just read the books a few times, and relax? I've tried it, and it works wonders.

    Turns out you do like revising ;)

    Bad science in fiction Hall of Shame

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    3 hours ago, Bill Phil said:

    Well, they use their science and technology to solve their problems. There are many examples of some kind of use of science as a major story element, and their equipment has its limits.

    There's a whole episode dedicated to proving that a seemingly god-like being is just someone with sufficiently advanced technology.

    I'd argue that what constitutes sci-fi is more than just realism. Theme also plays a role. Star Trek's big theme is the benefits of science and technology and how these are some of our greatest tools to solve problems. In Star Wars, it's about the Force and balance, and technology is even painted as "the bad guy", symbolized by the technologically advanced Empire. Even Vader says that the Force is more powerful than their technology. Compare this to Star Trek, where they rely on their science, intelligence, and technology to accomplish their goals. The science and technology aren't real, but they are recognizable as science and technology, at least generally.

    Force is just faith, the power of spirituality over physical force, they just make faith a physical force too. Todays religious would say faith was more powerful than technology. Luke is Jesus.

    Star Trek and Star Wars could both be set in present day, or even in the past, and the story could be the same. Light Sabers ferchrissakes!

     

    This isnt a criticism of either though, just that neither of them lose anything from their scientific innaccuracies and that that is how I personally seperate sci-fi from "story set in the future/space/some other thing".

     

    PS: I love it when the English language makes me say things like "that that"

     

     

    So, you have a plane on a conveyor belt...

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Gordon Fecyk said:

    This could be an interesting exercise for KSP engineers though. Can we make conveyor belts or other moving platforms using Infernal Robotics?

    The problem is in most iterations of the problem, the conveyor needs to "think" - that is, to change its speed based on a sensor reading.

    Is that possible in KSP? Can KOS handle that maybe?

    Just ... what?

    in The Lounge

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    I dont know anything about asdf but when I read what you heard I just thought "Oh, thats just standard internet gibberish."

    ...which was correct ;)

    Pretty sure my fiance wonders what my state of mind is like when she hears things like "Welp, my kerbal is now a miles-wide pyramid." (encountered a glitch which turned a stranded-in-space kerbal into a geometric looking object about the size of minmus)

     

    NB: "gibberish" not necessarily meant as a derogatory term here, just representative of the propensisty of internet users to seek more and more outlandish things, usually humour, and the amount that is available.

    So, you have a plane on a conveyor belt...

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Gordon Fecyk said:

    Does this thread solely exist to troll everyone? To tell who has a rudimentary grasp of aerodynamics and who does not?

    This thread? No. But whoever first coined the question probably didnt understand it themselves or made it vague on purpose. Its almost deliberately designed to cause the maximum contention.

    For Questions That Don't Merit Their Own Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted · Edited by p1t1o

    On 5/28/2018 at 5:06 AM, ARS said:

    What's the (supposed) actual advantage of gyrojet rounds compared to normal cartridge rounds? Seeing as the actual gyrojet weapon has inadequate performance (bullet starts slow and then accelerates, bullet veering off course, bad accuracy at long range but bad power at short range (it won't even harm the finger placed directly at gun barrel)). Does it even make a good weapon to substitute normal cartridge rounds?

    I've read a few relevant facts on this:

    The gyrojet was rare but found use in Vietnam, where it was praised for its unusual sound signature ("ZWIP", apparently :)),  which when heard, did not necessarily originate from the firing position but from the path of the bullet - making the position of the shooter harder to pinpoint - which was a huge advantage in jungle warfare, meaning it was generally liked by those who used it.

    It was very light compared to conventional firearms due to not needing heavy barrel construction.

    Stopping power was low at short range but significant speed is reached within 10m, maximum speed (roughly Mach1, no exact data) reached in 20m after propellant burn-out. Propellant burn time is approx 0.1-0.12s

    The only manufacturing run on ammunition had a defect in one of the rocket nozzles (4 small holes in the base, canted to impart spin stability) which damaged power and accuracy. The defect was never corrected as the weapon did not catch on. It can be assumed that a fully developed weapon would be more effective and less failure prone.

    The firing mechanism was unique. The hammer hit the bullet from the front, forcing the round to hit the fixed firing pin at the rear. The rocket would then push through the sprung hammer, re-cocking it. Due to the above mentioned ammo defects, sometimes the rocket would not be able to pass the hammer, causing a misfire.

    What funny/interesting thing happened in your life today?

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    Had EPIC lightning storm at the weekend (London, UK), it was intense for any storm in any country LET ALONE quiet ol'blighty.

    For a period of about 2 hours we had heavy bolts of lightning roughly every second or so and the roll of thunder was a continuous roar without gaps.

    This is extremely unusual for the UK and was much more intense than even large storms I have experienced in more thunder-prone areas like France or Canada.

    Im freaking out right now Help ASAP

    in The Lounge

    Posted

    Its always the most boring explanation in real life.

    Yes it might be related to malware but its far more likely (going on known data) that someone is messing with you.

    Anyone else have access to the computer? Any siblings, housemates or other users? Your computer networked to anything?

    If you said that you were a student in a dorm or hall of residence or something, I'd be almost certain this was  a prank.

     

    If its malware, its highly  unusual for them to advertise their activity, this message serves no purpose whatsoever other than to spook you. If its malware or other unauthorised activity, they have now increased the risk that you will take action, at least to halt whatever activity may be happening, and if the malware no longer has a use for your machine then why the message? 

    I cant rule out malware or other activity but theres my 2 pence.

    ***

    14 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

    Kind of sounds like a ransomware attack, with the garbled string as an address to send cryptocurrency.

    Its missing a key thing to be ransomware....any threats or demands. Or any information at all.

    ***

    17 hours ago, Mudkip909 said:

    -ruseuaHEha391Heajh81H8ejajfiw11428dsia

    Notice the first 4 characters?

    Smacks of red herring, ie: the string means nothing its just there to help scare you.

    ***

    For what its worth, I once woke up after a party to find a text file on my desktop with a phone number on its and a girls name. First thought was that a girl liked me and wanted me to have her number. HA!

    Turns out someone else got a girls number and need to quickly note it down, borrowed my computer to do so.

    ***

    In conclusion, it could be something related to hacking, but if it is, its highly unusual.

    If it was me, I'd revisit my security measures, make sure im not being too vulnerable, but in the absence of any other noticable effects, probably just delete the file and ignore it.

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